Answer the following prompt in a comment. In your response, use at least 4 of the Level 1 vocabulary words that I handed out in class today. As usual, you may change the form of the word if appropriate.
Prompt: Why do you think that so few American films and novels qualify as classic tragedies? What does the lack of tragedies say about our culture? About our views on catharsis and ability to achieve it? Etc.
We now have a tawdry society unlike back then when things were more holy and way more censored. Requiring less artistic ability nowadays meaning that we will have less tragedies because everything now is based on sex and not the actual quality of the writing therefore you become aloof with the art of writing these tragedies. The lack of tragedies digresses us in literature. With this lack of interest that we as a culture show I think it just makes our future more capricious for us who inspire to become writers (not me).
ReplyDeleteAmericans do not like the morose feeling that comes with watching or reading a classic tragedy, which means that few people would spend money to buy a blatently depressing film. We are resolute in staying happy and do not to undergo the sometimes purifying feeling, usually entails crying, that comes with reading or watching a tragedy. A majority of books readers and movie watchers don't have the amount of precociousness it takes to read tragedies, and instead prefer to read teen romance.
ReplyDeleteIt is ostensible that American films don't qualify as classic tragedies. Most Americans would not want to go see a depressing film. They don't want to have the morose feeling from watching a classic tragedy, they would rather be happy. The lack of tragedies in our culture shows that we are too used to the happy and personable movies like comedies. It is very arduous for an American to read or watch tragedies because we don't want to have the catharsis of crying during a film.
ReplyDeleteThere are not many tragedies in American society. Many authors and directors make sinecure projects because our generation doesn't want tragedies but wants films and novels vitiated with corny and over-used plot lines. Perhaps it's because American society doesn't like when tragedies put forth draconian punishments on the not so innocent protagonist. People don't want to feel the fear associated with tragedies. However, because there are not many tragedies, whenever Americans actually see tragedies (which isn't often) they face a fulmination of catharsis.
ReplyDeleteThe adamant characteristics that define a tragedy make writing a tragedy an arduous task. Some Americans don't find tragedies personable due to their allegiance to sadness and sorrow. Many people find the idea of watching a tragedy to be something too scary in order to enjoy; however, I do not concur. I find tragedies compelling and interesting. Due to the lack of tragic American literature, it's safe to conclude that as a country, we don't respond well to the idea of a tragedy. I think this is because a lot of us try to ignore the fact that life is full of hardship and sorrow, and we try to ignore the idea that our own lives could one day turn into a tragedy. We try to ignore the idea that we all have some flaw that could cause us to self destruct. Because of the lack of modern tragedies, we have to assume that people find more comfort in happy, go-lucky stories instead of trying to heal by identifying with the suffering of the characters.
ReplyDeleteIt is ostensible that American made films are no longer created to follow the classic tragedy formula. I believe that this is because no longer what the American people desire to see. It may have been cathartic for people before current times, but now days Americans concur that humor is the best type of movie and are adamant on their desire to see comedy films. The comedy films are created to have blatant jokes and noises that are funny to make us laugh. This laughing gives us a way to release our feelings, or a cathartic experience, like tragedies did for people in older times. But, our culture's current lack movies with morose endings shows that in our culture, we like having movies that finish with a happy ending making us feel good.
ReplyDeleteFew American films and novels qualify as classic tragedies because our culture prefers the unrealistic “happy-ending” stories over the ones that end in tragedy (but could be honest nonetheless). Our culture is so used to the “happy-endings” or the comedic stories over the tragic ones that now we don’t even watch or read a lot of real tragedies, and when we do, they aren’t as appealing. This is because Americans seem to find catharsis in the moments saturated with hilarity rather than the morose ones; they feel that sense of relief or release from comedic stories rather than tragic ones. In our society, it would be arduous to get people to actually enjoy tragedies because they are not used to them at all. Because of this, more authors and directors tend to make comedic stories, and aren’t as adept at making tragedies.
ReplyDeleteWriting a true tragedy is no doubt a very difficult task. However, the ostensible fact that there aren't many true tragedies in our culture has little to do with this idea. The main reason of why we don't have many true tragedies, I believe, is because we, as a culture, don't handle tragedies well. Although the characters involved may be very personable, we worry that these tragedies can somehow affect our lives. We relate to the characters, and see them and their stories unfolding in our own lives. These tragedies worry us, and we really aren't able to dismiss them as negligible stories. Rather than having tragedies as entertainment, we tend to enjoy humorous entertainment, where the characters might be peevish. We also often choose to watch tawdry reality TV shows, where we watch inane people act out their lives in front of a camera. These humorous shows make us laugh and feel better, while reality TV shows make us feel better about ourselves. Maybe it would benefit our culture to watch more tragedies...
ReplyDelete"Ignorance is bliss." To paraphrase and expand, people are sometimes happy not to know things. We have gotten so used to seeing that happy hollywood ending at the end of a movie. So sometimes, getting people to realize there's a possibility of that not happening is an arduous task. We also love to see those happy faces on screen! Frankly, the most morose character we tolerate is Eeyore from Winnie the Pooh. I think what is says about our culture is just that we've spoiled children by reading them these stories and telling them that their prince will come and that there are no tragedies. But I suppose I always did think those princess books were amazing. Certainly better than the monotonous textbooks we have to read now.
ReplyDeleteOur culture loves to shove things into corners. Many people will even ignore ostensible facts and attempt to digress to another topic. Because of this, much of our media and entertainment is sugared up and cushioned so most stories end happily and make the audience feel good. It has come to the point where frank characters like Iago in Othello rarely appear. Our culture turns to entertainment for a distraction, so we often do not like to feel bad after reading or watching something. It demonstrates that our society has begun to look upon catharsis as an arduous process instead of a freeing task. Why deal with your problems when you can escape from them? That is a common theory in our culture. Catharsis is definitely not easy and requires self-discovery and is often painful, so many people try to avoid it.
ReplyDeleteI suppose so few American films and novels qualify as classic tragedies because of the culture nowadays to want to avoid plots that could potential strike realistic fear (not like horror movie kind of fear that would probably not happen in real life frequently), or that just don't have favorable outcomes. It is really quite arbitrary that the American culture picked these kind of plots to avoid because there is no basis for these "guidelines" since other cultures have a lot of classic tragedies. Nonetheless, people in America probably believe these kinds of plots to be peevish because the outcome is not a happy ending, something we're accustomed to; we try to avoid feeling morose or sullen.
ReplyDeleteAmerican films and novels only sporadically qualify as classic tragedies because our culture tries to get catharsis through comedy instead. An ostensible motive of American film writers is to give the audience an escape, rather than making them feel worse by presenting a tragedy. To paraphrase this, our society is made of thinkers-who would rather laugh at life- than the more morose at times feelers- who receive catharsis through tragedy.
ReplyDeleteI think that there are very few classic tragedies in the American culture due to the fact that they are saturated with morose themes and feelings that Americans don't deal with well. The obligatory characteristics of a classic tragedies include irreversible suffering, a hero with a fatal flaw, etc, and these aspects are too gloomy and tragic for the American mindset. I think this shows that our culture is aloof from a major part of classical theatre and it makes us ignorant to a major part in history. I also think it kind of makes us immature not to be able to deal with feeling hurt and sad which is catharsis that we need but can't achieve.
ReplyDeleteSo few American films classify as tragedies due to the ostensible society we live in. As a people we are adamant that our films end happily and make us feel good. This is completely ridiculous that a people can be so adamant in something that does not represent real life. Americans thirst for films saturated with arbitrary story lines and characters. We do not approach catharsis we just avoid it. Our film industry needs a more candor attitude taking on real life stories not fake ones a director made up so 12 year old girls would cry in the movie and fall in love with the characters with six-packs.
ReplyDeleteSo few American films classify as tragedies because most of them do not contain the obligatory requirement to be considered a tragedy. Sometimes the wrong person will have a downfall, or there might be an unexpected twist, or the fate of the characters is not known, etc. Also, people want to please the viewers and if a movie does not follow the typical story-line triangle, viewers tend not to concur with the outcome of the movie. Thus, putting the viewers in a morose mood and making them feel depressed that the movie did not turn out the way they expected it to. The lack of tragedies says nothing denoting about our culture, but instead aims to please viewers with a different approach. People tend to make arbitrary assumptions based on what they feel should have happened versus what actually happened. Although it is sad that our culture does not have many films that fit in the tragedy category, there is a variety of other categories to make movies from.
ReplyDeleteIt is uncanny that in such a complex culture like that of America, tragedies aren't much appreciated. This begs a candid question, are we as complicated as we think? To be a complex culture a country should be able to adapt to all cultures, which we do, but also appreciate all types of situations, happy or sad. It is a morose and gloomy perspective to look from, but it is an obligated criticism that must be said. Americans don't want to pay money to make someone make them feel bad. Congenially speaking, I agree, we should be able to watch tragedies for free.
ReplyDeleteThere are many reasons that few American films qualify as classic tragedies. However, before I name a major one, I would like to point out that although many movies don't have every obligatory characteristic for it to be considered a classic tragedy, many do movies have some. Anyways, many American movies are monotonous. The plots are similar and the endings are very predictable; more frequently the endings are happy. Even with the similar plot lines, most of the movies probably will end up being succesful. My supposition for this idea is that when people want to see a movie, they want to see something that will make them feel good and help them forget about the arduous troubles they have in reality. Most people do not want to take a couple hours out of their day to see a movie that will only make them feel worse, and force them to experience emotional catharsis.
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